In displaying and rendering HTML (HyperText Markup Language) formatted content such as Web pages or email on an electronic device, problems can be encountered in properly rendering and displaying the text and images. The formats specified in the HTML content must be evaluated and mapped to formats supported by the device. HTML content such as Web pages typically are designed and formatted to accommodate or be adapted to different user devices and to be easily and clearly displayed.
For other HTML content, such as an HTML email message, the formats and parameters such as the font face or type and font size typically are specified by the author or sender of the email message or by the email authoring tool, without regard to the formats supported or preferred by the email recipient. HTML email messages also may not be structured to be easily adapted to the recipient's device. To make the text more readable, an author may format portions of the text such as headings with a larger font size relative to the main portion of the message. Other portions, such as footnotes, may be formatted with a smaller font size. However, the recipient of the text or email message may not like the specified font face and font size specified by the author. The font face may be hard to read and the font size may be too large or too small for display on the recipient device. Where a font is specified by an author according to point size, the font displayed by the recipient may not appear as intended if the DPI (dots per inch) setting on the device is not configured appropriately.
The font face and font size of the text may be overridden by the recipient device to display the text according to the user's preferred font formats, however, in doing so the formatting and font size differences and alignment in the text for different portions such as headings or footnote sections are not preserved. Other devices may attempt to map HTML text to a preferred user font face while preserving the relative sizing specified by the author which may result in unusually large or extremely small text. Changing of the font face attribute also may cause misalignment and improper spacing of text on the display. Problems in mapping the font may be exacerbated when the information is displayed on an electronic device having a relatively small display screen. Relatively large text may dominate the display and make scrolling through and reading the email message laborious and unmanageable. Relatively small text, when displayed on a smaller screen, may be illegible and all but disappear from the display.
Like reference numerals are used in the drawings to denote like elements and features.